The setting is Texas 1874. Efforts to carve west Texas off into a separate state have been defeated.
The state police, working in conjunction with northern carpetbaggers, have been disbanded.
But Beau Laroux (Bruce Cabot) is a man with grand ambitions that include reviving reviving both so that he can control the flow of all goods heading east.
And he has a politician named Clarke Faulkner under his thumb, not to mention a whole band of former state policemen to do his bidding.
He has more trouble controlling his fiance Connie Faulkner (Adrian Booth), a fiesty news correspondent reporting on the activities of the Texas Rangers.
Laroux is doing his best to stir up more trouble than they can handle and, with the help of Connie’s uncle, editing her dispatches to make the Rangers look bad.
But he’s also stirred up a former mercenary named Gary Conway (Bill Elliott), who returned from fighting south of the border in hopes of building a cattle ranch with his brother Chuck.
That’s before Chuck was shot by a Ranger fleeing a bank robbery Laroux had planned.
Now Gary Conway has pinned on a Ranger badge, not to find out who killed his brother as some suspect. But to find out who’s behind all the trouble in Texas.
Bill Elliott as Gary Conway, an ex-soldier whose plans change once he returns to Texas in The Gallant Legion (1948)
Lorna Gray (Adrian Booth) as Connie Faulkner, eager to report on the Rangers in The Gallant Legion (1948)
Review:
A spirited 1940s Western with a plot more complex than most. Laroux, after all, is a man who will stop at nothing to bring his plans to fruition, even if it includes starting an Indian uprising and stealing a Gatling gun.
Adrian Booth plays the gal who won’t buckle to his will. Adele Mara plays the other featured lady, a saloon girl who had turned the head of Gary’s younger brother. She serves up three song-and-dance numbers.
If the film has a false note, it’s the Andy Devine character. He plans Windy Hornblower, cook for the Rangers who somehow winds up in the middle of lots of the action and the focus of lots of forced humor.
And the filmmakers could have created a bit more suspense around Gary Conway’s motive for joining the Rangers. Laroux tries to cast doubt; the Rangers begin to wonder.
The viewer? There’s no reason to believe Gary Conway has ulterior motives. After all, this is earstwhile Bill Elliott — formerly Wild Bill Elliott of B Western fame.
Bruce Cabot as Beau Laroux, a man with a plan to split up Texas in The Gallant Legion
Andy Devine as Windy Hornblower, cook for the Rangers in The Gallant Legion (1948)
Directed by:
Joseph Kane
Cast:
Bill Elliott … Gary Conway
Lorna Gray … Connie Faulkner
as Adrian Booth
Joseph Schildkraut … Clarke Faulkner
Bruce Cabot … Beau Laroux
Andy Devine … Windy Hornblower
Jack Holt … Capt. Banner
Grant Withers … Wesley Hardin
Adele Mara … Catalina
James Brown … Tom Banner
Harold Landon … Chuck Conway
Tex Terry … Ranger Sgt. Clint Mason
Lester Sharpe … Matt Kirby
Hal Faliaferro … Billy Smith
Russell Hicks … State Sen. Beale
Herbert Rawlinson … Maj. Grant
Marshall Reed … Bowling
Steve Drake … Steve
Harry Woods … Lang
Runtime: 88 min.
Jack Holt as Capt. Banner, leader of the Rangers in The Gallant Legion (1948)
James Brown as Tom Banner, son of Ranger leader Capt. Banner in The Gallant Legion (1948)
Memorable lines:
Connie Faulkner: “You’re hard, Beau. You could be cruel. Sometimes, I wonder why I’m so attracted to you.”
Beau Laroux: “Maybe it’s because you know a real man when you see one.”
Connie: “Stop being so modest.”
Catalina, of Chuck Conway’s spending habits: “What is wrong with buying things for me?”
Gary Conway: “That money cost Chuck his life. Do you think it was worth it?”
Beau Laroux, of Gary Conway: “You like him, don’t you?”
Connie Faulkner: “It wouldn’t be difficult. And here’s something else for you to remember: I’m not married to you yet.”
Gary Conway: “You kinda like the Rangers, don’t you, Windy?”
Windy: “Ah, it’s a great outfit. The gals like ’em to. You just gotta be careful of those marryin’ kind.”
Gary: “A wife might not be so bad.”
Windy: “Oh, poison. Just plain poison. Uh-oh, look what’s comin’.”
Harold Landon as Chuck Conway, younger brother of Gary Conway and a former state policeman in The Gallant Legion (1948)
Joseph Schildkraut as Clarke Faulkner, balking at Laroux’s latest order while Laroux’s right-hand man looks on in The Gallant Legion (1948)
Adele Mara as Catalina, the pretty saloon girl with a pretty voice in The Gallant Legion (1948)
Bill Elliott as Gary Conway and Bruce Cabot as Beau Laroux, disagreeing again in The Gallant Legion (1948)
Jack Holt as Ranger Capt. Banner presiding over a funeral while flanked by Gary Conway (Bill Elliott) and Windy Hornblower (Andy Devine) in The Gallant Legion (1948)
Bill Elliott as Gary Conway and Lorna Gray (Adrian Booth) as Connie Faulkner, confronting her uncle about editing her dispatches in The Gallant Legion (1948)
){kind=link}